You have called upon the name of Jesus for the healing of your eyes, and rightly so, for the hand that once touched a fevered body and restored it to perfect health in an instant is not shortened. No physician’s art could accomplish what He did then, and no surgery stands beyond His power to mend now. Yet while you cry out for the sight of these bodily eyes, remember the greater sight that He gives, the vision of the soul that beholds heavenly things. The church is a spiritual surgery, and we enter here not merely to seek a cure for the flesh, but that every wound of the heart might be cleansed. Do not therefore seek only a sign of physical restoration, but desire above all the health of the inward man. For what is a whole eye if the soul looks upon the world with envy or lust? Seek rather to learn to look chastely, and to amend your sight by fixing it upon Christ.
Still, we do not dismiss the suffering of the body; we groan with you, and we bring your need before the Lord with all earnestness. For we know by the example of Epaphroditus that we rejoice not so much upon hearing of the health of those we love as when we see them restored contrary to hope. I exhort you, then, to patience. Sometimes the healing tarries, not because God is unwilling, but because He would perfect a greater work within you. The rich man in Hades could see only outward things too late; his eyes were opened to his sin only when the door of mercy had shut. But you, even now, may use this trial to see clearly the vanity of all earthly comforts and the treasure of faith. He who possesses Christ is rich beyond all measure; he who despairs not in affliction but gives thanks rises above his disease. Bear your present dimness as a medicine, not a punishment. For perhaps, when this cloud passes, you will find that your inward vision has been sharpened, and you will behold the works of God with new wonder.
Therefore let the whole church pray with you, and let your own heart be lifted up in confidence. The Lord who commanded the Sabbath to be broken for a greater healing is able to restore what the knife of the surgeon has touched. We ask for this, if it be to His glory and your soul’s profit. But whether He grants it now or delays, know that the true light shines even in darkness, and the day will come when every eye shall see Him as He is. Until then, walk by faith, not by sight, and let the eyes of your heart be fixed unwaveringly upon the resurrection. We pray in the name of Jesus, who is Himself the health of our countenance and our God. Amen.